Posted on 04/29/2007 9:27:55 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Fiery crash collapses Bay Area freeway
By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago
OAKLAND, Calif. - A gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Sunday, creating such intense heat that a stretch of highway melted and collapsed. Officials predicted a traffic nightmare for Bay Area commuters for weeks or months to come.
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Flames shot 200 feet in the air, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported in the 3:45 a.m. crash, which officials said could have been deadly had it occurred at a busier time.
"I've never seen anything like it," Officer Trent Cross of the California Highway Patrol said of the crumpled interchange. "I'm looking at this thinking, 'Wow, no one died' — that's amazing. It's just very fortunate."
Authorities said the damage could take months to repair, and that it would cause the worst disruption for Bay Area commuters since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged a section of the Bay Bridge itself.
Nearly 75,000 vehicles a day use the interchange, which connects westbound lanes of Interstate 80 to southbound I-880, on the edge of downtown Oakland about half a mile from the Bay Bridge's toll plaza. But Because the accident occured where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause commuting problems for hundreds of thousands of people.
State transportation officials said 280,000 commuters take the bridge into San Francisco each day.
On Sunday the collapse doubled the half-hour trip drivers normally face getting to and from San Francisco and the eastern suburbs — even though many didn't even attempt the trip because of the crash. Traffic appeared light on the bridge itself, but motorists looking to get on and off were backed up on both sides.
Transportation officials said they already had added trains to the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail system that takes commuters across San Francisco Bay, and were urging people to telecommute if possible. In preparation for rush hour, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized funding so that ferries, buses and the rail system could carry commuters free of charge during Monday's commute.
State officials said motorists who try to take alternate routes Monday instead of relying on public transportation would face nightmarish commutes.
The tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline ignited after crashing into a pylon on the interchange.
The driver, James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland, was headed from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station near the Oakland Airport when the accident occurred, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A preliminary investigation indicated he may have been speeding on the curving road, Cross said. Mosqueda was being treated in a hospital for burns Sunday; the hospital would not transfer media calls to his room.
Witnesses reported flames rising up to 200 feet into the air. Heat exceeded 2,750 degrees and caused the steel beams holding up the interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound Interstate 580 above to buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt, leading to the collapse, California Department of Transportation director Will Kempton said.
The charred section of collapsed freeway was draped at a sharp angle onto the highway beneath, exposing a web of twisted metal beneath the concrete. Officials said that altogether a 250-yard portion of the upper roadway was damaged.
The cost of the repairs would likely run into the tens of millions of dollars, and the state was seeking federal disaster aid, Kempton said. Schwarzenegger late Sunday issued an emergency declaration to allow repairs to happen faster, said Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's spokesman.
The Bay Bridge consists of two heavily traveled, double-decked bridges about two miles long straddling San Francisco Bay.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the accident showed how fragile the Bay area's transportation network is, whether to an earthquake or terrorist attack, and has the potential to have a major economic effect on the city.
"It's another giant wakeup call," Newsom told reporters at the California Democratic Party convention in San Diego.
Sorry. I meant “no OTHER casualties,” because the driver’s injuries sound quite severe. And as to the insurance issue, as a fuel hauler, the trucking company could indeed have catastrophic event insurance with very high limits, possibly underwritten by the oil industry (although that’s just speculation).
“The gas station that was his destination was probably on Hegenberger road.”
Why do you say that? H’burger is 20 minutes away.
Be sure to tell the 9/11 conspiracy wackos.
Of course, I guess George W. Bush COULD have sent that tanker there, and COULD have had the bridge already set with explosive to collapse it at just the right time.
” insurance”
This could get interesting.
Arnold? paging Arnold and Garamendi - please pick up the white phone ...
oh - he got it ... http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/6057/
yup, just little George wanting to kill more people/sarc.
All BS aside - went to the site this afternoon - Caltrans was working and Oakland and E’ville’s Finest had the area cordoned off .. looks like it’s going to be a max 24 hr effort.
And as soon as the Warriors do away with the Mavs, Mark Cuban will have plenty of time to make a movie claiming that Bush did it.
Actually, in the movie “Terminator”, the cyborg that was played by the guy that is now Govenor walked out of a flaming gas truck explosion.
Coincidence, I think not.
Just an educated guess.
The driver, James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland, was headed from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station near the Oakland Airport when the accident occurred, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Well if you can't wait for a H'burger try a H'Dog. With R'lsh!
Cheers!
Prayers for the driver...and all the soon-to-be-enmeshed commuters.
Hey! Hold on here! This can't be so! It's impossible for that to happen. I know because the conspiracy theorists said that it was impossible for the steel structure of the World Trade Center to collapse simply because of the fire from the plane. Naaa, they're not foolin me!
I read that the Oakland FD arrived on the scene and put water on the fire but decided to let it burn out rather than apply foam to put the fire out. The story said that they decided not to apply foam because the foam chemical residue might pollute the Bay. Using foam might have stopped the collapse of the structure and forestalled the nightmare commute that we will suffer for months. I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more in the future about the decision to let it burn out without using foam.
After watching Barron Davis make the Mavs look like they were playing with lead shoes on, I think your right. Mark Cuban will probablly say that Bush and Rove engineered his teams loss to discredit his film.
I agree there is going to be many many heated discussions about that decision, and it should fuel the efforts of Caltrans to make some sort of temporary repairs in the most urgent manner.
At least they will have the experiance from the big quake to repair this quicker than most people think.
Can they do that?
I mean, I saw the picture of the hurricane/election manipulator, so I know that’s real, but the sign didn’t have an NBA logo on it anywhere.
Was it a software upgrade?
;)
Where I work its my job to hire drivers with a CDL, I almost forgot I have to report any to the FBI that cannot or refuse to back up a truck capable of hauling a load that could most definately be used as a bomb, concrete mixers.
In another post there was an article about a person who wanted a Hazardous Material endorsement on his CDL training course, he was only interested in driving foward fast and not to learn how to reverse. Just like the 9/11 terrorists.
Don’t expect you’ll be calling the “I’d hit it” ping list to THAT picture. :-)
Thermite reaction! Thermite reaction!
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